Police Seize 234 Pounds of Marijuana in Winters Texas

Police authorities in Winters arrested a couple that’s believed to be from Austin with more than 200 pounds of Marijuana. The two were arrested on Monday and they’re currently locked up in the Runnels County Jail.

The authorities managed to arrest the two following a traffic stop that was being conducted by Winters police. Reports from police indicate that 55-year-old Leonardo Castillo and 21-year-old Roxanne Gomez of Austin were traveling on Highway 153 before they were pulled over for over-speeding. The couple was driving at 80mph at a 60mph zone.

A K-9 unit known as Phobos, was called to the scene and alerted the police to the presence of drugs.

The police found five large duffel bags containing 234 pounds of marijuana. The estimated street value of the marijuana is about $600,000, as pointed out by Sergeant. John Mills. However, they're still working to determine where the drug was sourced and where it was being transported to.

Winters Police Department sergeant. John Mills said that the two have been identified as Roxanne Gomez, 21, and Leonard Castillo, 55, they were both charged with second-degree felony on possession of marijuana. They remained jailed Tuesday on bonds of $150,000 each.

The arrest was made amidst after the Dallas County commissioners passed a “cite and release” program that’s aimed at freeing cops so that they can focus on violent crimes. This means that people caught with small amounts of marijuana in Dallas won't be taken straight to jail.

A heated debate saw commissioners vote 4-1 to allow Dallas police to issue a court summons to individuals with less than 4 ounces of pot. Although laws decriminalizing marijuana or legalizing it have swept across the country, they remain a political long shot in Texas.

That’s not the case with some cities — including Austin, San Antonio and Houston — which have taken advantage of a 2007 law that allowed law enforcement to cite and release defendants accused of certain misdemeanors including marijuana possession.